History Highlight:

Today in 1986, Ray Charles was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the first induction dinner, held in New York City. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings. He also helped racially integrate country and pop music during the 1960s with his crossover success on ABC Records, most notably with his Modern Sounds albums. While with ABC, Charles became one of the first African-American musicians to be given artistic control by a mainstream record company. Rolling Stone ranked Charles number ten on their list of "100 Greatest Artists of All Time" in 2004, and number two on their November 2008 list of "100 Greatest Singers of All Time".

Also, Today In:

1956 - Rock 'n' Roll fans in Cleveland under 18 were banned from dancing in public (unless accompanied by an adult), after Ohio Police enforced a law dating back to 1931.

1965 - "Downtown" made Petula Clark the first U.K. female singer to have a No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart since Vera Lynn in 1952. The song was also a No. 2 hit in the U.K.

1969 - Working at Apple studios in London, The Beatles (with Billy Preston on keyboards) recorded ten takes of a new song called "Get Back".

1971 - Dawn started a three-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Knock Three Times", the group's first No. 1, which was also a U.K. No. 1.

1976 - David Bowie released his tenth studio album Station to Station which was the vehicle for his latest character - the Thin White Duke. The album made the top five in both the U.K. and U.S. charts.

1977 - Patti Smith broke her vertebra when she fell off the stage at a gig in Tampa, Florida.

1978 - Terry Kath, guitarist with Chicago, died from an accidentally self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

1988 - Nirvana recorded a 10-song demo with Seattle producer Jack Endino. Sub Pop records boss Jonathan Poneman heard the tape and offered to put out a Nirvana single.

1988 - Michael Jackson went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "The Way You Make Me Feel". It was the third single from Jackson's seventh studio album Bad for which Jackson had written over sixty songs for the album, with plans of releasing a three-disc album, but producer Quincy Jones convinced Jackson to make Bad a one-disc LP.

1990 - Allen Collins, guitarist from Lynyrd Skynyrd, died of pneumonia after being ill for several months.

1990 - David Bowie announced his forthcoming Sound And Vision 1990 tour, during which he invited each local audience to decide on a "greatest hits" running order, organized through local radio stations.

2000 - Santana started a three-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with Supernatural, the album which went on to win eight Grammy awards spent a total of nine weeks at No. 1 during this year.

2017 - Bobby Freeman, who wrote and recorded the 1958 hit "Do You Want to Dance," died at age 76.

Birthdays:

Robin Zander, lead singer of Cheap Trick, is 64.

Nick Harmer, bassist for Death Cab for Cutie is 41.

Highlights for Today in Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Paul Shaffer's Day in Rock, Song Facts and Wikipedia.